A target, not a permission slip
Proof-of-work mining searches for a result that satisfies a network's target. A discovered candidate does not bypass the other rules that participating nodes check. Hardware activity and consensus validation therefore remain distinct parts of the system.
The Bitcoin developer guide explains the mining workflow. Our beginner article connects those fundamentals to the equipment and observations an operator sees.
Shares are not automatically blocks
In pooled mining, a submitted share provides evidence of work under the pool's rules. It is not automatically a block that satisfies the network target. Keep accepted work, discovered blocks, account balances, and completed payments as separate records.
A dashboard should identify its measurement window and the source of each number. A local hashrate estimate and a pool-side estimate may use different evidence or averaging intervals.
Units belong to an algorithm
Hashes per second describe a rate. Prefixes change scale: a terahash is a trillion hashes. But an algorithm remains part of the meaning of the measurement. Converting units does not make hashing work from different algorithms economically or computationally equivalent.
For the site's sample data, sha256d labels the fictional fleet's algorithm and hashrate_th_s labels the unit. The values demonstrate a data contract rather than a real network measurement.
Difficulty is not device efficiency
A network target determines the required proof-of-work condition. Device energy efficiency describes energy used for hashing work within a measurement boundary. They are different concepts and should not be combined into one unexplained health metric.
Read the J/TH guide for the device-side calculation and the Stratum guide for the communication path between workers and pools.
Learn with a small system diagram
Draw the roles of node, pool, miner, collector, and dashboard. Next to each connection, note what information travels and who controls the configuration. This exercise reveals missing assumptions before software or hardware is introduced.
Use the glossary while reading, and practice against the public JSON fixtures. No browser mining, token issuance, or hardware control runs on this website.